thanks again so much for joining me. and until next time, i hope you are learning to be more of a healthy you. hello. i'm greg jared, glad you are with us. 3 hub,000 people in charleston, west virginia are experiencing their third day without any tap water. forcing businesses and restaurants to close but it may be making people sick. and based on the press conference that just ended a short time ago, the prospect for any usable water soon is looking grim. doug mckelway is live in charlotteton, west virginia, with more.

>> the press conference just concluded and it seems that it could be days before 300,000 people could safely drink tap water in the area. before the water alert can be lifted they have to extensively test the water and this is a huge system that stretches out to several counties. and this is only one part per million. listen up. >> the water treatment plant must consistently produce water samples indicating results at or below this level before the current do-not-use order is lifted. at this time, there are inadequate number of sampling results to report. even when the water produced by the plant meets acceptable levels, extensive testing must be conducted in the distribution system before the do-not-use order is lifted. >> the results -- there was a

talk of phase-in system of water, with water first offered for bathing and later for consumption. what it means that people living in the charleston area have to rely on the trucked-in water for their water service. last night a convoy of 75 fema trucks pulled into the air base nearby loaded with water bottle and they were handed over to 16 distribution points here. there are many other distribution points in other surrounding counties. last night the president of freedom industries, responsible for this spill tried to explain to reporters what he thought happened. he said there was a leak, they believe, in the bottom of a 35,000 gallon tank. we know that about 7500 gallons of the stuff now leaked out and leaked through a retention dike and into the elk river. >> i've prepared a short

statement and then would like to start by sincerely apologizing to the people in the effected counties of west virginia. our friends and our neighbors. this incident is extremely unfortunate, unanticipated and we are very, very sorry. >> he added that the substance in question has a very low toxicity. which seems to contrast extremely with the epa standard only one part per million is safe but a cease and desist order has been imposed against his business, all of the tanks on that farm have been ordered pumped out. he is effectively out of business. he's already facing a number of lawsuits, six as of yesterday and the u.s. attorney for west virginia has begun an investigation which means possibly that he could face criminal charges down the road. back to you. >> doug mckelway, live in charleston, west virginia.

thank you very much. following many of controversy and complaints over the botched obamacare is dropping the plan that a developed the website. white house said it was not effective enough in fixing the complex system. elizabeth prann has the latest on this. >> reporter: the white house dumping cgi forward, the main contractor responsible for building healthcare.gov after the contract expires next month. one of the world's largest consulting firms will take over the task, exsenure. the price tag is $90 million for a one-year deal. this is while the administration continues to tout recent improvements and increasing enrollee numbers. just today the president claiming improvements to the economy due to his signature piece of legislation. >> thanks in part to the reforms

in the affordable care act, health care costs now eat up less of our economy. over the past four years costs have grown at the slowest rate on record. >> reporter: critics say a change in contractors won't fix a flaw that is 23u7bdmentally -- fundamentally flawed. >> the law is not living up to the promises made by the supporters and it is questionable whether it will meet its purpose to significantly expand health insurance coverage. 5 million americans have been kicked out of the health plans they liked and were promised they could keep. >> reporter: on friday the house passed a bill requiring the administration to notify americans if their personal information has been compromised on the new health insurance exchanges. greg, back to you. >> elizabeth prann, thank you very much. former defense secretary robert gates memoir, a tell all tale of what was going on in the obama white house hits shelves this coming tuesday but the book already has the white house

playing defense. gate taking direct aim at president obama's leadership of the war in afghanistan as well as ripping into the gentleman on the left there of your picture, joe biden. molly henneberg in washington with more. >> reporter: former defense secretary gates recounts a story in his book about the final discussions with military leaders in late 2009 before president obama announced that he was going to go ahead with a surge of about 30,000 troops into afghanistan. grates writes, quote, then came an exchange that is seared into my memory. biden said he was ready to move forward but the military should consider the president's decision as an order. i'm giving an order, brohm quickly said. i was shocked. i've never herd a president frame a decision as a direct order. when the military, it is unnecessary. as secretary of defense i had neverir you'd -- never issued an order to get something done. obama order as biden's urging

both showed the inability of both men with the american culture. and although biden was called a knowledgeable colleague, he said biden, quote, has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades. the obama administration has been pushing back on secretary gates' book saying in part of course there were debated about policy in -- debates about policy in afghanistan. >> but that process led to a stronger policy for our troops and security because it was focused on what the original purpose of going to afghanistan was about, which was holding responsible those who attacked the united states and killed americans on september 11th, 2001, and assisting the new afghan government and the afghan security forces. >> as for vice president joe biden, carney said he is a key adviser and the president gretly

approves of the counsel he provides. >> molly, thank you. larry speaks has died. he spent six years at the poed rum for the reagan administration. he passed away in his cleveland, mississippi, home after a long battle with alzheimers. nancy reagan said he was saddened to learn about larry, who served ronnie with great loyalty at one of the toughest jobs in the white house. he is survived by his daughters, sons and grandchildren and great grandchildren. he was 86 years old. a-rod is speaking out about his suspension and the ruling from a major league arbitrator and if he will be making the playoffs. plus the democrats coming out swinging against house republicans' 2014 agenda but is the gop simply giving them a dose of their own medicine? welcome back. how is everything?

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welcome back. time for a quick check of the head lines. neiman marcus saying hackers may have broken into their commuter system, stealing customer credit and debit card information. the retailer target admitted 70 million more customers than previously reported may have been stolen. alex rodriguez comments on his new suspension to 162 games from 211, saying, quote, the number of games sadly comes as no surprise as the deck has been stacked against me from day one, end quote. and mlb arbitrator reducing his

suspension for his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. and the new governor of virginia, terry mccauliffe taking the oath of office with long time supporter, bill clinton and hillary clinton in attendance. house democrats are lashing out against what they call the republicans' quote, pathetic agenda for 2014, sending a scathing memo to more than 60 gop held districts that are expected to be competitive this coming november. but it turns out the republicans are simply follow a strategy that worked well for democrats back in 2008 when they ended up winning both the house and the senate. let's bring in susan, correspondent for the washington examiner. so are republicans kind of stealing a page of the democrats' playbook and isn't it therefore hypocritical for the

demes to be so critical. >> this is nothing sure in policy and this is a case of it. democrats have a big agenda in 2006. they passed a cap and trade bill, minimum wage increase, fair letter act, but when it came to run again and maintain the majority they toned things down because in part polls showed people were weary of what the liberal agenda -- what was being passed in congress. so they had a low-key year leading up to the agenda. they picked up 21 new seats in the elections so republicans were not able to make any ground in regaining the majority, they lost seats to democrats. so this plan, it works. >> let me ask you this, speaker boehner has now hired a well-regarded expert on immigration policy named rebecca talon. everybody on capitol hill knows her. is that a sign he and the

republican leadership are sincere and serious about reform of immigration this year? >> well, it depends on how you define reform. what is interesting here is both parties define reform very differently and what i think the speaker is trying to do is walk a fine line between not angering the base and trying to accommodate the u.s. chamber of commerce and other groups that really want to push forward bringing in new foreign workers, high-skilled and low-skilled and increasing border security. so what i think you will see the republicans do in the house is lay out principles that include just what i described and they'll try to move this in pieces instead of one big bill that republicans, as we know, are not in favor of. so this is a little more ambitious than a lot of people thought they were going to do. but it is so early. they may just propose these things but never take up legislation. it is early to predict what they might do but i don't think you will see the kind of legislation that the senate passed, that big

comprehensive bill that includes a pathway to citizenship for the people here illegally. we won't see that in the house. >> another priority and this is no secret, is republicans would like to weaken or delay obamacare. might that strategy actually intensify, if opposition to obamacare continues to escalate even more than it has already. >> yes. because it is a winner. if you look at polls, people are becoming increasingly opposed to the affordable care act. so say as we move into 2014, there are more premium increases, more people being dumped into the exchanges, more glitches and frustration, more people discovering they can't keep their doctor or learning they are not covered and thought they were. let's watch how that unfolds. and then i think you will see the republicans react accordingly. they'll start putting forward more measures that delay the individual mandate, tweak the law in ways that would weaken

it. i think they will keep going with this. it is a winner for them politically. >> more people so far have lost insurance rather than gained insurance and that trend could continue. we'll wait and see. also republicans are going to try to scale back or eliminate many of the onus federal regulations which they think are diminishing economic growth, right? >> these are things that the administration has been able to do to go around congress. congress has a republican-led house and they can't get through their agenda without skirting congress. so a lot of this is coming through the epa which will raise prices on energy and thus raise prices for small business. republicans think this will hurt the job market and it is quite unpopular in the business community, which make up a lot of the people who support republicans. so they are going to push an agenda that tries to loosen the regulations. it is another winner for them. it is popular with the public

and i think it will -- it is something that they can do that won't anger the base. >> gotta go. susan, great to see you as always. >> thanks. israel mourning the loss of ariel sharon, what his passing means for israel's future and how he shaped his country's past, coming up. e id card - gots all my pertinents on it and such. works for me. turn to the camera. ah, actually i think my eyes might ha... next! digital insurance id cards. just a tap away on the geico app. could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know that when a tree falls in the forest and no one's around, it does make a sound? ohhh...ugh. geico. little help here. why let erectile dysfunction getn your way? talto your doctor about viagra. k if your heart is hlthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates r chest pain; it m cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure.

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. welcome back. we've been reporting on the death of one of israel's most legendary leaders, ariel sharon who died today at 85. he suffered a stroke eight years ago this month from which he never reflected. his life reflected the history of israel, a life dedicated to the survival of his country

against incredible odds. for more we bring in editor of "commentary" magazine. he was an incredibly bold figure in israeli politics. >> he was. not just israeli politics, israeli history. in 1948 he nearly died in a decisive battle in the war of independence. in the 1950s he helped invent counterterrorism practices with the unit started the israeli army. in 1973 he is the signal figure of the yom kippur war in 1973 when he sliced the egyptian front in two and crushed the egyptians in a tank battle that people have studied forever. in 1982 he took israel into the war in lebanon. his most disgraced moment when the war went badly and there was a massacre of palestinians in a refugee camp. it looked like he was done and

over and finished and 20 years later he became prime minister of the country, fought a decisive counter terrorist battle against the second fatahda. then astonishingly turned around and made a unilateral peace decision to pull israel out of the gaza strip. on his own business himself. a very startling life history. >> how is that? >> ended by a stroke in 2006 that he never recovered from. >> he was sort of the height of his power and to some extent popularity. how did people and how do people view that unilateral decision to abandon gaza? >> it's very controversial decision in israel. the general feeling is israel ended up having to go back in a war because hamas took over gaza and might well have bean mistake. part of the reason it might have bean mistake is how much it

depended on him being the prime minister. he was the person who personally guaranteed that if there were terrorism that came out of the gaza strip he would go back in. his successor chickened out, didn't do it as was necessary and, you know, you can't really make historic policy based on your own personal because who knows what will happen. a stroke can happen and then things go south. >> yeah. was it his belief that israel really had to chart its own course, its own future. >> that's the story of the gaza disengagement and the war that he waged on the second intafatah. they believed there had to be a deal with the palestinians that was negotiated. what he decided in both cases no. he would do what he thought was in israel's interest by ending the war, by building the security wall and pull israel

out of gaza, whatever the palestinians said that that is what israel should do and didn't have anything to do with them, nothing to do with europe or the united states. >> i was there covering the second -- and sharon was a guy who could have achieved peace with the palestinians. your thoughts? >> i think if anyone could have, if the presence of anyone could have broken the will of the palestinians to believe that they could best israel at the negotiating table he was the guy. but as i said, you can't make a nation's policy based on the will and fortitude of a single person because then health intervenes, life intervenes and people who follow him don't have the same standing, don't have the same toughness and don't have the same sense of history he had. >> among prime ministers in israel he'll go down as one of the best?

>> i think history records him as the second most significant leader in israel's history after the man who founded the seat. >> more so than golden meir. >> she took the couldn't into bad -- she's mishandled the yom kippur war. we revere her here in america. benjamin netanyahu is the longest serving prime minister but sharon cast as shadow unlike any other. >> very long shadow. he's certainly missed. a lot of grief in israel. that does it for us. thanks for watching. "the five" is coming up next. i'll be back in one hour from now. farmer: hello, i'm an idaho potato farmer.

and our giant idaho potato truck is still missing. so my dog and i we're going to go find it. it's out there somewhere spreading the good word about idaho potatoes and raising money for meals on wheels. but we'd really like our truck back, so if you see it, let us know, would you? thanks. what?

hello, everyone. i'm hello, everyone. i'm greg gutfield along with andrea tantaros, bob beckel, eric bolling, and dana perino. this is "the five." >> all right, it's day two of >> all right, it's day two of the christie scandal. and he still hasn't apologized. oh, wait, he did. >> i come out here today to apologize to the people of new jersey. >> all i can do is apologize. i'm just going to apologize. i think that's all you can do. i apologize to the people of new jersey today. why i specifically apologize to the people of ft. lee and apologize to the folks.